Musty Pete Greets Angel Hi everyone. While my little buddy Muldoone recovers from his fall, Mr. Big has asked me to greet Muldoone's new Bridge arrivals. I am hoping Saraferret is around to give me a hand. Mr. Big let me know that I needed to check on a pretty white girlie fert named Angel. So I visited the Newbie Dormitories to see if she was there. I ran into my friend Gobles and asked if he knew Angel. "Hmmm? Is Angel a handsome Sable from Mexico?" he asked "No...Uh-uh. She's a girl ferret, white, with a monkey print blanket. Have you seen her?" I asked "Nope, I guess I haven't." replied Gobles, "You might want to check with my friend Josie, she knows all the girls!" "Okay, where might I find Josie?" I asked "Hmmmm. I think I heard her saying a bunch of them were going to The Meadows to catch flutterbies." Gobles pointed towards The Meadows "Thanks Gobles, I'll go take a look." It was a pretty long walk to The Meadows, I had been up most of the night watching over Muldoone. Maybe after I find Angel, I can take a nap before I come back home. I said goodbye to Gobles and headed for The Meadows. The Meadows was plentiful with flutterbies, the younger ferrets, mostly the girls loved to run through the grass with their dainty little flutterby nets, catching the brightly colored creatures. There is just one rule about catching flutterbies "No harm shall come to a Flutterby, and they should all be set free after capture." The girls loved to scoop them up in their nets and look at their beautifully patterned and colorful wings. Carefully releasing them only to scoop up another. They would spend hours at this activity. As I walked, I though about Fancy Ferret, my one true love. I imagined Fancy chasing the flutterbies as I watched, relaxing in the green grasses of the Meadows. Oh how Fancy will love it here, and how I will love having her with me once again. I miss her so much, I miss my Earth family too. I heard someone coming down the path towards me, away from The Meadows... it's Galan and his friend Puck. These two are notorious for 'spying' on the girlie ferts.They like to hide behind trees and thicket and watch the girls as they giggle and play, sometimes the girls talk about the boy ferts that they like. Galan is excited because he has just found out that a pretty girl named Chloe thinks he's cute! Galan stopped on the path before me, "Oh Hi Mr. Musty Pete! What brings you so far out from the bridge?" "Hello Galan" I nodded, "And Mr. Puck. What are you boys up to? Not teasing the girls again, I hope." "Oh no!! Never teasing...we just likes to listen." blurted Puck "You were spying on the girls??" I asked, somewhat serious "Well...No..er..um..Yes...NO! Not spying. Just hiding and listening." offered Puck "Oh! Evesdropping then?" I asked Puck, who flusters easily, stammered, " Uh-uh...I don't even know what that means Mr. Pete. But I am sure we weren't doing that either!" I chuckled at Puck...and asked "Do you boys know a pretty white girlie fert named Angel? She hasn't been here very long." "Galan spoke up, "Yeah! We know her. She is best friends with my new girlfriend Chloe! She's pretty too!" "And have you seen her today" I asked "Oh yes! They are right over there catching flutterbies!!" Puck pointed to his left "Thank you gentlemen. I'll see you later." I shouted after them as they headed back towards the Bridge I looked ahead and I heard the girls before I saw them, they were squealing and giggling as they ran around chasing the flutterbies. I watched them for a few minutes undetected, then I was spotted by a pretty dark furred girl named Simone, she ran up to me with a net in her hand. "Mister Pete!! Looky what I catched!! It's a flutterby! Isn't it purty??" It was a beautiful creature, purple and blue and pink and black. "Yes, Simone. That sure is a beauty! I am looking for Angel and Chloe, are they here with you?" "Uh huh! Yes! They're right over there, the two girls sitting in the grass." Simone pointed at them [Note to self] I must remind myself to tell these youngsters that it's not nice to point. I wandered over to the two girlie ferts, they were lounging in the grass, talking and giggling in whispers. They stopped talking as I approached, looking at me curiously as if I were some ancient invader, the male of the species, not allowed into this haven for girls. "Uh, Hi girls. My name is Musty Pete. Are you Chloe and Angel? I have been looking for you two all morning." The light colored girl answered, "I am Angel. This is my bestest friend Chloe. And my other bestest friend is over there, her name is Honey. Why were you looking for us Mr. Musty?" "Well, " I said as I settled into the grass, " I was sent by Mr. Big to check on you. Your Earth Mom Joan was wondering how you are doing. She misses all of you very much and she just wanted to be sure that you made it here and that everything is okay." I explained. "I will be happy to send a message back to her from you if you'd like." "Oh! That would be wonderful!! Can you tell her that we are happy! Tell her we catch flutterbies, and we swim and we get raisins everyday and we have a nice home with snuggly sleep sacks and hammies, we have lots and lots of friends and Mikee is here with us and we miss her!! Can you tell her all of that?" they asked excitedly. "Absolutely! I know it will make her heart happy to be sure that you are all doing so well. She knows that one day she will meet all of you here. She really misses you a lot. So I will make sure I get the message to her!" I assured them. The girls were quiet and looked at me inquisitively..."Was there something else, Mr. Pete?" asked Chloe "Uh, No! I guess that was it. You ladies have a lovely day now. I'll see you again soon." and I got up from the cool grass. It was so inviting, I could have rolled right over and napped the rest of the day away. But the girls had made it clear that this was their place, at least for today. So I said my goodbye's and headed back towards my cottage to check on Muldoone. [Posted in FML issue 5314]